Best time to visit Rwenzori mountains.
Best time to visit Rwenzori mountains, wondering when is the best time to book your Rwenzori hiking trip in Uganda with rwenzorihiking.com? our experts are always ready to help you select the best time to tailor your Rwenzori hiking adventure to Rwenzori Mountains National park.
The best time to visit the Rwenzori Mountains is during the two dry seasons: June to August and December to February. These months offer the best weather conditions for hiking and climbing, with clear skies and reduced rainfall.
The Rwenzori mountains can be climbed all year round but expect rain in all seasons. However these months, march to may, September to October , it is muddy, wet and weather changes any minute.
The weather in Rwenzori Mountains National Park is generally wet, with the peaks covered with mists most of the time, and that is why rubber boots are part of gear when preparing for Rwenzori mountains hiking to help you navigate in the wet and muddy areas.
How many days to climb Rwenzori Mountains
While not necessarily a secret, the Rwenzori mountains offers incredible hiking and trekking opportunities. The Rwenzori mountains has three unique trekking routes, the central circuit trail, the bukurungu wilderness trail and kilembe trail. Each trail has different days it takes to reach different peaks. The central circuit trail being the shortest trail taking 6 days and while bukurungu trail and kilembe trail takes 7 or 8 days to complete the trek.
However the Rwenzori mountains offers a variety of trekking options ranging from 2 days to 12 days of Rwenzori trekking which includes nature walks, trekking with out climbing any peak and climbing different peaks in the Rwenzori mountains.
How to get to Rwenzori Mountains National Park
To reach the Rwenzori mountains national park by road is about 6 hours drive from kampala to Kasese town depending on the route used.
BY ROAD
The Rwenzori mountains can be reached by two routes from kampala to Kasese via mubende covering a distance of 300km which is the shortest route while the longest route begins from kampala via masaka through Mbarara, Bushenyi to Kasese for 350km distance drive.
BY AIR
A scheduled chartered flight can be arranged from Entebbe international Airport to Kasese Airstrip which is then followed by a 40 minutes drive to the Rwenzori mountains national park.
The Rwenzori mountain is in found in the Albertine Rift valley of East Africa. The mountains run for 130 km north to south along the border between western Uganda and eastern DRC. The Ugandan part of the mountain can be found in Kasese district in southwest of the country, in the north of the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of the world class safari destination.
Rwenzori Mountains attractions
The Rwenzori Mountain National Park was gazetted in 1991, declared a UNESCO World heritage site in 1994, and later designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance in 2008, highlighting its global ecological significance.
The main attraction of Rwenzori Mountain national park is trekking through its diverse landscapes, which include glacier capped peaks, alpine meadows and dense montane forests. There are several trekking routes of varying difficulty, catering to different levels of experience and fitness. The most popular trek is the multi day hike to the summit of mount stanley, the highest peak in the Rwenzori mountains.
The Rwenzori mountain has Africa’s third highest peak on mount stanley , Margherita peak 5,109 m above sea level.
The Rwenzori mountains are among Africa’s premier climbing destinations offering some of the most rewarding treks on the continent.
A Landscape Like No Other
The Rwenzori Mountains are a mystical wonderland, with their lower slopes covered in rich montane forests, bamboo woodlands and vast moorlands. As altitude increases, the landscape transforms into an otherworldly botanical paradise where giant lobelias, tree heathers and everlasting flowers thrive among moss drapped rocks creating a scene that feels almost magical.
Birdwatching
The park is home to over 217 bird species, a variety of endemic and rare species including birds like the Rwenzori turaco, Rwenzori batis, malachite sunbird, regal sunbird, white browed robin chat and many more birds. Birdwatching can well be done in the lower elevations especially at the mahoma loop trail and nyabithaba camp between 1650 metres to 3000 metres above sea level.
